Ottoman Turkish ( Ottoman Turkish : لِسانِ عُثمانی , romanized : Lisân-ı Osmânî , Turkish pronunciation: [liˈsaːnɯ osˈmaːniː] ; Turkish : Osmanlı Türkçesi ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian . It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet . Ottoman Turkish was largely unintelligible to the less-educated lower-class and to rural Turks, who continued to use kaba Türkçe ("raw/vulgar Turkish"; compare Vulgar Latin and Demotic Greek ), which used far fewer foreign loanwords and is the basis of the modern standard. The Tanzimât era (1839–1876) saw the application of the term "Ottoman" when referring to the language ( لسان عثمانی lisân-ı Osmânî or عثمانلیجه Osmanlıca ); Modern Turkish uses the same terms when referring to the language of that era ( Osmanlıca and Osmanlı Türkçesi ). More generically, the Turkish language was called تركچه Türkçe or تركی Türkî "Turkish".
133-457: Rüstem Pasha ( Turkish pronunciation: [ɾysˈtem paˈʃa] ; Ottoman Turkish : رستم پاشا ; c. 1505 – 10 July 1561) was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier to Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent . Rüstem Pasha is also known as Damat Rüstem Pasha (the epithet damat meaning 'son-in-law' ) as a result of his marriage to the sultan's daughter, Mihrimah Sultan , in 1539. He
266-620: A silahdar (a weapon bearer in an elite cavalry division of the Ottoman army ). A few years later he advanced to mirahur-i evvel ağa (chief supervisor of the sultan's stables) and then rikab-dar (the stirrup holder when the sultan mounted his horse). The mirahur accompanied the Sultan during his travels, so the Süleyman knew Rüstem for a long time before he appointed him - possibly inspired by Hürrem - to be tutor to his sons. In making this decision, he
399-461: A Bosniak by Tayib Osman-zade Ahmed, author of Hadikatul vuzara and the Turkish encyclopedia Kamus-ul-alam . He is also referred to as a Bosniak by the Turkish historiographer Mustafa Âlî , although other sources suggest different Croatian, Bosnian or Serbian birthplaces. In a diplomatic contact with Antun Vrančić he called his maternal language as Croatian indicating his Croatian origin. Wherever he
532-409: A Persian or Arabic active or passive participle to a neuter verb, to do ( ایتمك etmek ) or to become ( اولمق olmaq ). For example, note the following two verbs: Below table shows some sample conjugations of these two verbs. The conjugation of the verb "etmek" isn't straightforward, because the root of the verb ends in a [t]. This sound transforms into a [d] when followed by a vowel sound. This
665-672: A campaign against Persia, Süleyman appointed Rüstem Serasker (commander-in-chief) of the campaign. But soldiers assembled in the military camp in Karaman (in Central Anatolia), rejected the appointment and insisted that Rüstem should be replaced by Mustafa (as admiral of the Ottoman fleet during the Tripolis siege Rüstem's brother Sinan Pasha faced much the same problem although he still won many victories before his death in 1553). The intrigue continued. Mustafa's often-cited correspondence with
798-724: A complete control over all of it. Ismāʻil followed the line of Iranian and Turkmen rulers prior to his assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", previously held by Uzun Hasan and many other Iranian kings. The Ottoman sultans addressed him as the king of Iranian lands and the heir to Jamshid and Kai Khosrow . Having started with just the possession of Azerbaijan, Shirvan , southern Dagestan (with its important city of Derbent ), and Armenia in 1501, Erzincan and Erzurum fell into his power in 1502, Hamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Diyarbakır , Najaf , and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, and Herat , as well as other parts of Khorasan , in 1510. In 1503,
931-463: A coup, but his selection was ensured when 30,000 Qizilbash supporters demonstrated outside the prison. Shortly after the installation of Ismail II on August 22, 1576, Haydar was beheaded. Ismail's 14-month reign was notable for two things: continual bloodletting of his relatives and others (including his own supporters) and his reversal on religion. He had all his relatives killed except for his older brother, Mohammad Khudabanda, who, being nearly blind,
1064-563: A daughter, Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan (1541-1598), firstly married in 1557 to Semiz Ahmed Pasha , and at least one son, Sultanzade Osman Bey (1546-1576, buried in his father's türbe , in the Şehzade Mosque ). As Grand Vizier, Rüstem amassed vast wealth and he was the first Grand Vizier in the history of the Ottoman Empire who contributed to the development of the state from his own funds. According to most contemporary testimonies (excluding Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey's Şehzade Mustafa Mersiyesi ), he
1197-650: A document but would use the native Turkish word bal ( بال ) when buying it. The transliteration system of the İslâm Ansiklopedisi has become a de facto standard in Oriental studies for the transliteration of Ottoman Turkish texts. In transcription , the New Redhouse, Karl Steuerwald, and Ferit Devellioğlu dictionaries have become standard. Another transliteration system is the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG), which provides
1330-531: A flourishing of Persian art. Whether Abbas had fully formed his strategy at the onset, at least in retrospect his method of restoring the shah's authority involved three phases: (1) restoration of internal security and law and order; (2) recovery of the eastern territories from the Uzbeks; and (3) recovery of the western territories from the Ottomans. Before he could begin to embark on the first stage, he needed relief from
1463-484: A hand in elevating and deposing Ismail II and thus had considerable influence among the Qizilbash, was the first. She did not last much longer than Mohammad's installation at Qazvin, where she was murdered. She was done in by intrigues by the vizier Mirza Salman Jaberi (who was a holdover from Ismail II's reign) and Mohammad's chief wife Khayr al-Nisa Begum , known as Mahd-i ‘Ulyā. There is some indication that Mirza Salman
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#17328528041731596-479: A negative verb, and a positive complex verb expressing ability. In Turkish, complex verbs can be constructed by adding a variety of suffixes to the base root of a verb. The two verbs are یازممق yazmamaq (not to write) and سوهبلمك sevebilmek (to be able to love). Another common category of verbs in Turkish (more common in Ottoman Turkish than in modern Turkish), is compound verbs. This consists of adding
1729-456: A number of reasons (not least of which was the fact that a Tajik was given military command over them), and demanded that he be turned over to them. The crown prince (the vizier's son-in-law) meekly turned him over, and the Qizilbash executed him and confiscated his property. The siege of Herat thus ended in 1583 without Ali Quli Khan's surrender, and Khorasan was in a state of open rebellion. In 1585 two events occurred that would combine to break
1862-477: A possessive pronoun if needed, and copula وار var , followed by the 3rd person singular form of the verb 'to do: ایتمك etmek attached as a suffix (or separate as a stanadalone verb); as conjugated in the above section. The verbs 'not to exist' and 'not to have' are created in the exact same manner and conjugation, except that the copula یوق yok is used. Turkish being an agglutinative language as opposed to an analytical one (generally), means that from
1995-411: A single root verb, with the addition of a variety of morphemes and suffixes, multiple new and different verbs meanings can be expressed in single but larger words. Below table is a sample from the verb تپمك tepmek meaning 'to kick', whose root (which is also 2nd person imperative) is تپ tep . Each of the produced new verbs below can be made into an infinitive with the addition of ـمك -mek at
2128-520: A society where the Persian language, culture, monarchy, and Shia Islam became integral elements of the developing national identity. The concept presumably had started to form under the Mongol Ilkhanate in the late 13th-century, a period in which regional actions, trade, written culture, and partly Shia Islam, contributed to the establishment of the early modern Persianate world. Its shortened form
2261-563: A source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi , who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Ya'qub. According to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya. After the decline of the Timurid Empire (1370–1506), Iran
2394-455: A tolerant Sunni Islam while ruling a largely Hindu population. After the death of Babur, his son Humayun was ousted from his territories and threatened by his half-brother and rival, who had inherited the northern part of Babur's territories. Having to flee from city to city, Humayun eventually sought refuge at the court of Tahmāsp in Qazvin in 1543. Tahmāsp received Humayun as the true emperor of
2527-612: A transliteration system for any Turkic language written in Arabic script. There are few differences between the İA and the DMG systems. Safavids The Guarded Domains of Iran , commonly called Safavid Iran , Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire , was one of the largest and long-standing Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty . It is often considered
2660-458: A treaty which preserved peace for twenty years. In cultural matters, Tahmāsp presided the revival of the fine arts, which flourished under his patronage. Safavid culture is often admired for the large-scale city planning and architecture, achievements made during the reign of later shahs, but the arts of persian miniature , book-binding and calligraphy , in fact, never received as much attention as they did during his time. Tahmāsp also planted
2793-545: A vassal state. Although in those campaigns (and in 1554) the Ottomans captured Tabriz , they lacked a communications line sufficient to occupy it for long. Nevertheless, given the insecurity in Iraq and its northwest territory, Tahmāsp moved his court from Tabriz to Qazvin . In the gravest crisis of Tahmāsp's reign, Ottoman forces in 1553–54 captured Yerevan , Karabakh and Nakhjuwan , destroyed palaces, villas and gardens, and threatened Ardabil . During these operations an agent of
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#17328528041732926-430: A vowel, when it comes to taking case suffixes, a letter - ـنـ [n] comes after the possessive suffix. For singular endings, the final vowel ی is removed in all instances. For plural endings, if the letter succeeding the additional - ـنـ [n] is a vowel, the final vowel ی is kept; otherwise it is removed (note the respective examples for kitaplarını versus kitaplarından ). Examples below : Below table shows
3059-525: Is not different from the grammar of modern Turkish .The focus of this section is on the Ottoman orthography; the conventions surrounding how the orthography interacted and dealt with grammatical morphemes related to conjugations, cases, pronouns, etc. Table below lists nouns with a variety of phonological features that come into play when taking case suffixes. The table includes a typical singular and plural noun, containing back and front vowels, words that end with
3192-626: Is now Iran , Azerbaijan , Armenia , eastern Georgia , parts of the North Caucasus including Russia , and Iraq , as well as parts of Turkey , Syria , Pakistan , Afghanistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . Despite their demise in 1736, the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West , the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based upon " checks and balances ", their architectural innovations , and patronage for fine arts . The Safavids have also left their mark down to
3325-424: Is reflected in conventions of Ottoman orthography as well. In Turkish, there is a verb representing to be , but it is a defective verb. It doesn't have an infinitive or several other tenses. It is usually a suffix. Negative verb to be is created with the use of the word دگل değil , followed by the appropriate conjugation of the to be verb; or optionally used as a standalone for 3rd person. Generally,
3458-409: Is regarded as one of the most influential and successful grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire . Rustem Pasha was taken as a child to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ), where he built a military and bureaucratic career under the protection of Hürrem Sultan , Süleyman's favorite and legal wife and Mihrimah's mother. His brother Sinan Pasha was an Ottoman grand admiral. Rustem is referred to as
3591-414: Is the latter's abandonment of compound word formation according to Arabic and Persian grammar rules. The usage of such phrases still exists in modern Turkish but only to a very limited extent and usually in specialist contexts ; for example, the Persian genitive construction takdîr-i ilâhî (which reads literally as "the preordaining of the divine" and translates as "divine dispensation" or "destiny")
3724-499: Is the predecessor of modern Turkish. However, the standard Turkish of today is essentially Türkiye Türkçesi (Turkish of Turkey) as written in the Latin alphabet and with an abundance of neologisms added, which means there are now far fewer loan words from other languages, and Ottoman Turkish was not instantly transformed into the Turkish of today. At first, it was only the script that was changed, and while some households continued to use
3857-514: Is used, as opposed to the normative modern Turkish construction, ilâhî takdîr (literally, "divine preordaining"). In 2014, Turkey's Education Council decided that Ottoman Turkish should be taught in Islamic high schools and as an elective in other schools, a decision backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , who said the language should be taught in schools so younger generations do not lose touch with their cultural heritage. Most Ottoman Turkish
3990-622: The Hindu Kush . Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids into Khorasan, the Safavid empire was able to keep them at bay throughout its reign. More problematic for the Safavids was the powerful neighboring Ottoman Empire . The Ottomans, a Sunni dynasty, considered the active recruitment of Turkmen tribes of Anatolia for the Safavid cause as a major threat. To counter the rising Safavid power, in 1502, Sultan Bayezid II forcefully deported many Shiʻite Muslims from Anatolia to other parts of
4123-516: The Kingdom of Hungary and agreed to pay a tax of 30,000 gold ducats a year to the Ottoman treasury. The Emperor's ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq wrote that Charles tried to revise the unfavourable agreement, several times but that Rüstem always resisted. Rüstem also worked on the agreement with the Safavids , which, in 1544, ended the long-standing Ottoman-Safavid wars, and secured the eastern borders of
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4256-581: The Old Azari language —a now-extinct Northwestern Iranian language —and accompanied by a paraphrase in Persian that helps its understanding, has survived to this day and has linguistic importance. After Safī al-Dīn, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā († 794/1391–92). The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement that conducted religious propaganda throughout Iran, Syria and Asia Minor, and most likely had maintained its Sunni Shafi'ite origin at that time. The leadership of
4389-711: The Peace of Amasya , Tasmāsp underwent what he called a "sincere repentance." Tasmāsp at the same time removed his son Ismail from his Qizilbash followers and imprisoned him at Qahqaha. Moreover, he began to strengthen Shiʻi practice by such things as forbidding in the new capital of Qazvin poetry and music which did not esteem Ali and the Twelve Imams. He also reduced the taxes of districts that were traditionally Shiʻi, regulated services in mosques and engaged Shiʻi propagandists and spies. Extortion, intimidation and harassment were practiced against Sunnis. When Tahmāsp died in 984/1576, Iran
4522-478: The Safavids signed 'Sultan Mustafa' (and kept today in the archives) may or may not have been relevant. It might have been authentic; it might have been a Safavid or a Hürrem-Rüstem deception, or it might have been Süleyman's attempt to calm down public opinion after Mustafa's death. Various reports describe Mustafa's death in the Ereğli valley. According to one, Rüstem Pasha asked Mustafa to join his father's army and at
4655-609: The chief vizier , Qāżi Jahān of Qazvin, after 1535. While Persians continued to fill their historical role as administrators and clerical elites under Tahmāsp, little had been done so far to minimize the military role of the Qezelbāš. Therefore, in 1540, Shah Tahmāsp started the first of a series of invasions of the Caucasus region, both meant as a training and drilling for his soldiers, as well as mainly bringing back massive numbers of Christian Circassian and Georgian slaves, who would form
4788-542: The fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey , widespread language reforms (a part in the greater framework of Atatürk's Reforms ) instituted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk saw the replacement of many Persian and Arabic origin loanwords in the language with their Turkish equivalents. One of the main supporters of the reform was the Turkish nationalist Ziya Gökalp . It also saw
4921-549: The 1680s travelogue Safine-ye Solaymani by the Safavid ambassador to Siam . This recurring expression highlights the authors' pride and recognition of their homeland. This expression is likely the fitting Persian way to describe an "empire" found in the writings of that time. Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334). In 700/1301, Safi al-Din assumed
5054-409: The Arabic system in private, most of the Turkish population was illiterate at the time, making the switch to the Latin alphabet much easier. Then, loan words were taken out, and new words fitting the growing amount of technology were introduced. Until the 1960s, Ottoman Turkish was at least partially intelligible with the Turkish of that day. One major difference between Ottoman Turkish and modern Turkish
5187-586: The Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Ya'qub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking clans from Asia Minor and Azerbaijan and were known as Qizilbash "Red Heads" because of their distinct red headgear. The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and
5320-715: The Hasırcılar Çarşısı (Strawmat Weavers Market) in Tahtakale in the Fatih district of Istanbul. It was designed by the Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan and built between 1561 and 1563. With its tiled interior and exterior, it is widely regarded as one of Sinan's most beautiful mosques. Other buildings in Istanbul that bear the grand vizier's name are the Rüstem Paşa Medresesi (1550, another work of Mimar Sinan ) in Çağaloğlu , and
5453-577: The Iranian state established by Ismāʻil. The most important local rulers about 1500 were: Ismāʻil was able to unite all these lands under the Iranian Empire he created. The Safavid dynasty was founded about 1501 by Shāh Ismā'īl I . His background is disputed: the language he used is not identical with that of his "race" or "nationality" and he was bilingual from birth. Ismāʻil was of mixed Turkoman , Kurdish , Pontic Greek , and Georgian descent, and
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5586-565: The Mughal dynasty, despite the fact that Humayun had been living in exile for more than fifteen years. After Humayun converted to Shiʻi Islam (under extreme duress), Tahmāsp offered him military assistance to regain his territories in return for Kandahar , which controlled the overland trade route between central Iran and the Ganges. In 1545 a combined Iranian–Mughal force managed to seize Kandahar and occupy Kabul. Humayun handed over Kandahar, but Tahmāsp
5719-526: The Ottoman Empire. In 1536 Süleyman had his grand vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha executed for complicated reasons (for example, he used a seal saying 'Sultan Ibrahim' and retained most of the confiscated property of Süleyman's 'minister of finance' İskender Çelebi , whose execution he ordered, etc.). Ibrahim was replaced with Ayas Mehmed Pasha , followed in turn by Lütfi Pasha and Hadım Suleiman Pasha . Rüstem Pasha became Grand Vizier eight years after Ibrahim's death. Later Hurrem and Rüstem conspired against
5852-495: The Ottoman realm. In 1511, the Şahkulu rebellion was a widespread pro-Shia and pro-Safavid uprising directed against the Ottoman Empire from within the empire. Furthermore, by the early 1510s Ismail's expansionistic policies had pushed the Safavid borders in Asia Minor even more westwards. The Ottomans soon reacted with a large-scale incursion into Eastern Anatolia by Safavid ghazis under Nūr-ʿAlī Ḵalīfa. This action coincided with
5985-476: The Papal ambassador Navagero said: "Mustafa lives with his mother. She says that people adore him." Understanding the danger of the situation, Süleyman remembered how his father Selim I had dethroned his grandfather Bayezid II (who was killed only a month after his abdication in 1512). Officers loyal to the sultan warned him that a part of the army was getting ready to put Mustafa on the throne. In 1552, while preparing
6118-474: The Persian character of its Arabic borrowings with other Turkic languages that had even less interaction with Arabic, such as Tatar , Bashkir , and Uyghur . From the early ages of the Ottoman Empire, borrowings from Arabic and Persian were so abundant that original Turkish words were hard to find. In Ottoman, one may find whole passages in Arabic and Persian incorporated into the text. It was however not only extensive loaning of words, but along with them much of
6251-404: The Qizilbash (which provided the only military force) was further reinforced by the precarious situation of the empire, in the vice of Ottoman and Uzbek territorial plunder. Yet over the course of ten years Abbas was able, using cautiously-timed but nonetheless decisive steps, to affect a profound transformation of Safavid administration and military, throw back the foreign invaders, and preside over
6384-538: The Qizilbash, which temporarily ceased before the defeat at Chaldiran , resurfaced in intense form immediately after the death of Ismāʻil, and led to ten years of civil war (930–040/1524–1533) until Shāh Tahmāsp regained control of the affairs of the state. For most of the last decade of Ismail's reign, the domestic affairs of the empire were overseen by the Tajik vizier Mirza Shah Hossein until his assassination in 1523. The Chaldiran battle also holds historical significance as
6517-507: The Rüstem Paşa Han (1544-1550, also by Mimar Sinan ) in Karaköy . In the acclaimed Turkish television series Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century) , Rüstem Pasha is portrayed by actor Ozan Güven . [REDACTED] Media related to Rüstem Pasha at Wikimedia Commons Ottoman Turkish language Historically, Ottoman Turkish was transformed in three eras: In 1928, following
6650-562: The Safavid Empire by the Ottomans. Under the Peace, the Ottomans agreed to restore Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan to the Safavids and in turn would retain Mesopotamia (Iraq) and eastern Anatolia. Soleymān agreed to permit Safavid Shi’a pilgrims to make pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina as well as tombs of imams in Iraq and Arabia on condition that the shah would abolish the taburru , the cursing of
6783-602: The Samlu (now supporting Sam Mizra's pretensions) attempted to poison the shah. Tahmāsp resolved to end hostilities and sent his ambassador to Soleymān's winter quarters in Erzurum in September 1554 to sue for peace. Temporary terms were followed by the Peace of Amasya in June 1555, ending the war with the Ottomans for the next two decades. The treaty was the first formal diplomatic recognition of
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#17328528041736916-507: The Shamlus. Two years later in 1587, the massive invasion of Khorasan by the Uzbeks proved the occasion whereby Murshid Quli Khan would make a play for supremacy in Qazvin . When he reached the capital with Abbas a public demonstration in the boy's favor decided the issue, and Shah Mohammad voluntarily handed over the insignia of kingship to his son, who was crowned Abbas I on October 1, 1588. The moment
7049-405: The accession to the Ottoman throne in 1512 of Sultan Selim I , Bayezid II 's son, and it was the casus belli leading to Selim's decision to invade neighbouring Safavid Iran two years later. In 1514, Sultan Selim I marched through Anatolia and reached the plain of Chaldiran near the city of Khoy , where a decisive battle was fought. Most sources agree that the Ottoman army was at least double
7182-478: The affairs of the government to the office of the wakīl (chief administrator, vakil in Turkish). Ismāʻil's successors, most manifestly Shāh Abbās I, successfully diminished the influence of the Qizilbash on the affairs of the state. Shāh Tahmāsp, the young titular governor of Khorasan , succeeded his father Ismāʻil in 1524, when he was ten years and three months old. The succession was evidently undisputed. Tahmāsp
7315-500: The ambitious crown prince Şehzade Mustafa , the son of Süleyman by Mahidevran Hatun , in favour of Şehzade Mehmed , his son by Hürrem. Mustafa made the mistake of frequently receiving foreign ambassadors and Ottoman commanders without his father's knowledge, and was regarded by them as an important ally against Süleyman. The Austrian ambassador Ghiselin de Busbecq (visiting Mustafa before Süleyman), informed his ruler: "Mustafa will be an excellent sultan, receptive and open to talks." And
7448-559: The assembled court. The Takkalu replaced the Rumlu as the dominant tribe. They in turn would be replaced by the Shamlu, whose amir, Husain Khan, became the chief adviser. This latest leader would only last until 1534, when he was deposed and executed. At the downfall of Husain Khan, Tahmāsp asserted his rule. Rather than rely on another Turkmen tribe, he appointed a Persian wakīl . From 1553 for forty years
7581-443: The basis of a military slave system, alike to the janissaries of the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, as well as at the same time forming a new layer in Iranian society composed of ethnic Caucasians . At the fourth invasion in 1553, it was now clear that Tahmāsp followed a policy of annexation and resettlement as he gained control over Tbilisi (Tiflis) and the region of Kartli while physically transplanting more than 30,000 people to
7714-597: The beginning of modern Iranian history , as well as one of the gunpowder empires . The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the empire , marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam . An Iranian dynasty rooted in the Sufi Safavid order founded by Kurdish sheikhs , it heavily intermarried with Turkoman , Georgian , Circassian , and Pontic Greek dignitaries and
7847-954: The building of the Süleymaniye Mosque (1550–57) as well as other monumental architectural projects designed by the architect Mimar Sinan . To reduce protectionism in the state administration, an official instalment fee was introduced, and confiscated when an official abused his authority. However, his reform of the military remained unfinished. At the time of his death in Constantinople on 10 July 1561, his personal property included 815 plots of land in Rumelia and Anatolia , 476 mills, 1700 slaves, 2,900 war horses, 1,106 camels, 800 gold embroidery Holy Qur'ans, 500 books, 5000 caftans , 130 pieces of armours, 860 gold embroidered swords, 1500 silver tolga (helmets), 1000 silver balls, 33 precious jewels etc. Rüstem Pasha died of hydrocephalus on 10 July 1561. He
7980-428: The central Iranian heartlands. According to Encyclopædia Iranica , this would be the starting point for the corps of the ḡolāmān-e ḵāṣṣa-ye-e šarifa , or royal slaves , who would dominate the Safavid military for most of the empire's length. As non-Turcoman converts to Islam, these Circassian and Georgian ḡolāmāns (also written as ghulams ) were completely unrestrained by clan loyalties and kinship obligations, which
8113-432: The court, but she fell in the first of many intrigues which continued even though the Uzbeks and Ottomans again used the opportunity to threaten Safavid territory. Mohammad allowed others to direct the affairs of state, but none of them had either the prestige, skill or ruthlessness of either Tahmāsp or Ismail II to rein in the ethnic or palace factions, and each of his rulers met grim ends. Mohammad's younger sister, who had
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#17328528041738246-548: The death of his father, Sheik Haydar, who had been murdered in 1488 by the ruling Shirvanshah, Farrukh Yassar. Afterwards, Ismail went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shāh of Azerbaijan , proclaimed himself King of Kings ( shahanshah ) of Iran and minted coins in his name, proclaiming Twelver Shīʿīsm as the official religion of his domain . The establishment of Twelver Shīʿīsm as
8379-557: The empire, he understood and realized that any long-term solutions would mainly involve minimizing the political and military presence of the Qezelbāš as a whole. According to Encyclopædia Iranica , his father and founder of the Empire, Ismail I, had begun this process on a bureaucratic level as he appointed a number of prominent Persians in powerful bureaucratic positions, and one can see this continued in Tahmāsp's lengthy and close relationship with
8512-417: The end. Ottoman Turkish was highly influenced by Arabic and Persian. Arabic and Persian words in the language accounted for up to 88% of its vocabulary. As in most other Turkic and foreign languages of Islamic communities, the Arabic borrowings were borrowed through Persian, not through direct exposure of Ottoman Turkish to Arabic, a fact that is evidenced by the typically Persian phonological mutation of
8645-502: The excessively powerful position of Shiʻi dignitaries, which would have been undermined by a reintroduction of the Sunna." His conduct might also be explained by his drug use. In any event, he was ultimately killed (according to some accounts) by his Circassian half-sister, Pari Khān Khānum , who championed him over Haydar. She is said to have poisoned his opium. On the death of Ismail II there were three candidates for succession: Shāh Shujā',
8778-521: The executor and administrator of his foundations. Most historians emphasise how hard Rüstem worked to consolidate and improve the troubled economy of the Ottoman Empire which had been impoverished by excessive spending on wars and the lavish lifestyle of the court. Contemporary documents say that he also financed this upswing from his own resources. Toll-free bridges, roads, covered bazaars, granaries, baths, hospices, caravanserais, convents, schools and various other establishments were built on his lands for
8911-563: The first three Rashidun caliphs. It was a heavy price in terms of territory and prestige lost, but it allowed the empire to last, something that seemed improbable during the first years of Tahmāsp's reign. Almost simultaneously with the emergence of the Safavid Empire, the Mughal Empire , founded by the Timurid heir Babur , was developing in South-Asia. The Mughals adhered (for the most part) to
9044-533: The first time in 1544 but in 1553 he was dismissed, only to recover the position in 1555 and hold on to it until his death in 1561. As a diplomat, Rüstem initiated many trade agreements with European countries and India. His biggest success was the agreement, signed in 1547, with King Ferdinand I and the Emperor Charles V , which confirmed, without firing a shot, the western border of the Ottoman Empire for more than fourteen years. Ferdinand renounced his claim to
9177-411: The governor of Diyarbakır , in 1539. By then Rüstem was already a wealthy man and had, since 1538, a splendid career as Governor of Anatolia, one of the two most important administrative regions in the Ottoman Empire, and a post seen as a stepping-stone on the way to becoming Grand Vizier. Mihrimah already knew Rüstem for as the mentor of her brothers and the adviser of her father. After their marriage, he
9310-422: The grammatical systems of Persian and Arabic. In a social and pragmatic sense, there were (at least) three variants of Ottoman Turkish: A person would use each of the varieties above for different purposes, with the fasih variant being the most heavily suffused with Arabic and Persian words and kaba the least. For example, a scribe would use the Arabic asel ( عسل ) to refer to honey when writing
9443-487: The impasse among the Qizilbash. First, in the west, the Ottomans, seeing the disarray of the warriors, pressed deep into Safavid territory and occupied the old capital of Tabriz. Crown prince Hamza Mirza, now 21 years old and director of Safavid affairs, led a force to confront the Ottomans, but in 1586 was murdered under mysterious circumstances. In the east Murshid Quli Khan, of the Ustajlu tribe, managed to snatch Abbas away from
9576-435: The infant son of Ismail (only a few weeks old), Ismail's brother, Mohammad Khodabanda; and Mohammad's son, Sultan Hamza Mirza, 11 years old at the time. Pari Khān Khānum, sister of Ismail and Mohammad, hoped to act as regent for any of the three (including her older brother, who was nearly blind). Mohammad was selected and received the crown on February 11, 1579. Mohammad would rule for 10 years, and his sister at first dominated
9709-504: The kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti were made his vassals as well. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east, led by their Khan Muhammad Shaybāni , were driven far to the north, across the Oxus River , where they continued to attack the Safavids. Ismāʻil's decisive victory over the Uzbeks, who had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran's eastern borders, and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond
9842-450: The latest developments in science and finance and were able to excel in military leadership as well as in close combat skills. It was a perfect start for a career in the military or officialdom. An extremely ambitious man, Rüstem owed the success of his career to the support of Hurrem Sultan , the wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. In 1526, he took part in the Battle of Mohacs as
9975-539: The leadership of the Zahediyeh , a significant Sufi order in Gilan, from his spiritual master and father-in-law Zahed Gilani . Due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi al-Din, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. The Safavid order soon gained great influence in the city of Ardabil, and Hamdullah Mustaufi noted that most of the people of Ardabil were followers of Safi al-Din. Religious poetry from Safi al-Din, written in
10108-433: The letter ه ـه ([a] or [e]), both back and front vowels, word that ends in a ت ([t]) sound, and word that ends in either ق or ك ([k]). These words are to serve as references, to observe orthographic conventions: Table below shows the suffixes for creating possessed nouns. Each of these possessed nouns, in turn, take case suffixes as shown above. For third person (singular and plural) possessed nouns, that end in
10241-564: The midst of these foreign perils, rebellion broke out in Khorasan fomented by (or on behalf of) Mohammad's son, Abbas. Ali Quli Khan Shamlu, the lala of Abbas and Ismail II's man in Herat proclaimed Abbas shah there April 1581. The following year the loyal Qizilbash forces (the Turkmen and Takkalu who controlled Qazvin), with vizier Mirza Salman and crown prince Sultan Hamza Mirza at their head, confronted
10374-569: The most powerful dynasty in Iran was that of the Qara Qoyunlu , the "Black Sheep", whose ruler Jahan Shah ordered Junāyd to leave Ardabil or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city. Junayd sought refuge with the rival of Kara Koyunlu Jahan Shah, the Aq Qoyunlu (White Sheep Turkomans) Khan Uzun Hassan , and cemented his relationship by marrying Uzun Hassan's sister, Khadija Begum. Junayd
10507-404: The most serious threat to the empire: the military pressure from the Ottomans. He did so by taking the humiliating step of coming to peace terms with the Ottomans by making, for now, permanent their territorial gains in Iraq and the territories in the north, including Azerbaijan, Karabakh , Ganja , eastern Georgia (comprising the Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti ), Dagestan , and Kurdistan. At
10640-613: The opportunity to attack. The Uzbeks struck in the Spring of 1578 but were repelled by Murtaza Quli Sultan, governor of Mashhad. More seriously the Ottomans ended the Peace of Amasya and commenced a war with Iran that would last until 1590 by invading Iran's territories of Georgia and Shirvan . While the initial attacks were repelled, the Ottomans continued and grabbed considerable territory in Transcaucasia , Dagestan , Kurdistan and Lorestan and in 993/1585 they even took Tabriz . In
10773-407: The order passed from Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā to his son Khwādja Ali († 1429) and in turn to his son Ibrāhīm († 1429–47). When Shaykh Junayd , the son of Ibrāhim, assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to historian Roger Savory , "Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power." At that time,
10906-404: The perpetrators were brought to justice, although the shah lectured the assembled amirs on how they departed from the old ways when the shah was master to his Sufi disciples. The shah used that occasion to proclaim the 11-year-old Sultan Hamza Mirza (Mahd-i ‘Ulyā's favorite) crown-prince. The palace intrigues reflected ethnic unrest which would soon erupt into open warfare. Iran's neighbors seized
11039-399: The positive conjugation for two sample verbs آچمق açmak (to open) and سولمك sevilmek (to be loved). The first verb is the active verb, and the other has been modified to form a passive verb. The first contains back vowels, the second front vowels; both containing non-rounded vowels (which also impacts pronounciation and modern Latin orthograhpy). Below table shows the conjugation of
11172-611: The present era by establishing Twelver Shīʿīsm as the state religion of Iran , as well as spreading Shīʿa Islam in major parts of the Middle East , Central Asia , Caucasus , Anatolia , the Persian Gulf , and Mesopotamia . Mamalik-i Mahrusa-yi Iran ( Guarded Domains of Iran ) was the common and official name of the Safavid realm. The idea of the Guarded Domains illustrated a feeling of territorial and political uniformity in
11305-558: The problem circled around the military tribal elite of the empire, the Qezelbāš , who believed that physical proximity to and control of a member of the immediate Safavid family guaranteed spiritual advantages, political fortune, and material advancement. Despite that Tahmāsp could nullify and neglect some of his consternations regarding potential issues related to his family by having his close direct male relatives such as his brothers and sons routinely transferred around to various governorships in
11438-622: The public benefit. Their funding was largely secured by the leasing of Rüstem's estates. He supported agriculture, founded new trading centres, like the bazaar in Sarajevo , and established silk factories in Bursa and Istanbul , and assorted social and educational institutions. He developed the domestic economy by encouraging major public works projects such as water distribution systems in Istanbul , Mecca and Jerusalem . He also found enough money to finance
11571-494: The rebelling Ustajlu-Shamlu coalition which had assumed control of Khorasan under the nominal rule of young Abbas. The Ustajlu chief, Murshid Quli Khan, immediately acquiesced and received a royal pardon. The Shumlu leader, Ali Quli Khan, however, holed himself inside Herat with Abbas. The vizier thought that the royal forces failed to prosecute the siege sufficiently and accused the forces of sedition. The loyal Qizibash recoiled at their treatment by Mirza Salman, who they resented for
11704-642: The replacement of the Perso-Arabic script with the extended Latin alphabet . The changes were meant to encourage the growth of a new variety of written Turkish that more closely reflected the spoken vernacular and to foster a new variety of spoken Turkish that reinforced Turkey's new national identity as being a post-Ottoman state . See the list of replaced loanwords in Turkish for more examples of Ottoman Turkish words and their modern Turkish counterparts. Two examples of Arabic and two of Persian loanwords are found below. Historically speaking, Ottoman Turkish
11837-416: The reports of ambassadors, administrative dossiers, foundation charters and some private documents like Hurrem's and Mihrimah's plea to Süleyman when Rüstem was expelled to Üsküdar , are the only contemporary sources reporting on Rüstem's life. They were also the basis of the oft-cited İbrāhīm Peçevī's work 'Tārīḫ-i Peçevī', published eighty years after Rüstem's death. Mihrimah Sultan was married to Rüstem,
11970-485: The same time warned Süleyman that Mustafa was coming to kill him. According to another, it was Süleyman himself who summoned his son to Ereğli, and Mustafa came, "confident that the army would protect him". Only Rüstem appears as the antagonist in all the versions. Even the report of the Austrian ambassador de Busbecq, who claims to have received an account from an eyewitness, had the same origin. Suspended and banished, Rüstem
12103-590: The same time, he took steps to ensure that the Qizilbash did not mistake this apparent show of weakness as a signal for more tribal rivalry at the court. Although no one could have bristled more at the power grab of his "mentor" Murshid Quli Khan, he rounded up the leaders of a plot to assassinate the wakīl and had them executed. Then, having made the point that he would not encourage rivalries even purporting to favor his interests, he felt secure enough to have Murshid Quli Khan assassinated on his own orders in July 1589. It
12236-479: The secretary of the French ambassador, still wrote: 'The grand vizier is a man of humble origin, who, thanks to his talent and will, worked his way up from nothing. He is an agreeable companion, engaging your interest with his acute faculty of judgment, an insightful way of thinking and magnanimous manners. During the negotiations, he is calm and dispassionate, although in his views determined.' Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey's elegy,
12369-504: The seeds that would, unintentionally, produce change much later. During his reign he had realized while both looking to his own empire and that of the neighboring Ottomans, that there were dangerous rivalling factions and internal family rivalries that were a threat to the heads of state. Not taken care of accordingly, these were a serious threat to the ruler, or worse, could bring the fall of the former or could lead to unnecessary court intrigues. According to Encyclopædia Iranica , for Tahmāsp,
12502-414: The shah was able to avoid being ensnared in tribal treacheries. But the decade of civil war had exposed the empire to foreign danger and Tahmāsp had to turn his attention to the repeated raids by the Uzbeks. The Uzbeks, during the reign of Tahmāsp, attacked the eastern provinces of the kingdom five times, and the Ottomans under Soleymān I invaded Iran four times. Decentralized control over Uzbek forces
12635-555: The shah's attention. Although the first slave soldiers would not be organized until the reign of Abbas I, during Tahmāsp's time Caucasians would already become important members of the royal household, Harem and in the civil and military administration, and by that becoming their way of eventually becoming an integral part of the society. One of Tahmāsp's sisters married a Circassian, who would use his court office to team up with Tahmāsp's daughter, Pari Khān Khānum to assert themselves in succession matters after Tahmāsp's death. After
12768-445: The size of that of Ismāʻil ; furthermore, the Ottomans had the advantage of artillery, which the Safavid army lacked. According to historian Roger Savory , "Salim's plan was to winter at Tabriz and complete the conquest of Persia the following spring. However, a mutiny among his officers who refused to spend the winter at Tabriz forced him to withdraw across territory laid waste by the Safavid forces, eight days later". Although Ismāʻil
12901-652: The start of over 300 years of frequent and harsh warfare fueled by geo-politics and ideological differences between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavids (as well as successive Iranian states) mainly regarding territories in Eastern Anatolia, the Caucasus , and Mesopotamia . Early Safavid power in Iran was based on the military power of the Qizilbash. Ismāʻil exploited the first element to seize power in Iran. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, he left
13034-438: The state religion of Safavid Iran led to various Ṣūfī orders ( tariqa ) openly declaring their Shīʿīte position, and others to promptly assume Shīʿa Islam. Among these, the founder of one of the most successful Ṣūfī orders, Shāh Ni'matullāh Walī (d. 1431), traced his descent from the first Ismāʿīlī Imam , Muhammad ibn Ismāʿīl , as evidenced in a poem as well as another unpublished literary composition. Although Shāh Ni'matullāh
13167-414: The success with firearms at Jām, Tahmāsp still lacked the confidence to engage their archrivals the Ottomans, choosing instead to cede territory, often using scorched earth tactics in the process. The goal of the Ottomans in the 1534 and 1548–1549 campaigns, during the 1532–1555 Ottoman–Safavid War , was to install Tahmāsp's brothers (Sam Mirza and Alqas Mirza , respectively) as shah in order to make Iran
13300-575: The support divided on ethnic lines— Ismail was supported by most of the Turkmen tribes as well as his sister Pari Khān Khānum , her Circassian uncle Shamkhal Sultan as well as the rest of the Circassians, while Haydar was mostly supported by the Georgians at court although he also had support from the Turkmen Ustajlu. Ismail had been imprisoned at Qahqaha since 1556 by his father on charges of plotting
13433-402: The territorial integrity of the empire (although much reduced from Ismail's time). During the first 30 years of his long reign, he was able to suppress the internal divisions by exerting control over a strengthened central military force. In the war against the Uzbeks he showed that the Safavids had become a gunpowder empire . His tactics in dealing with the Ottoman threat eventually allowed for
13566-487: The time of local warlords. For nearly 10 years rival Qizilbash factions fought each other. Af first, Kopek Sultān's Ustajlu tribe suffered the heaviest, and he himself was killed in a battle. Thus Div Soltān emerged victorious in the first palace struggle, but he fell victim to Chuha Sultān of the Takkalu, who turned Tahmāsp against his first mentor. In 1527 Tahmāsp demonstrated his desire by shooting an arrow at Div Soltān before
13699-404: The verbs 'to exist' and 'to have' are expressed using what's called an existential copula , the word وار var . The verb 'to have' is expressed in the same way, except that the object noun will take a possessive pronoun, producing sentences that will literally mean "there exists house of mine". The verbs 'to exist' and 'to have' conjugated for other tenses, are expressed in the same way, with
13832-507: The women's apartments in order to receive the Begum's orders. On these occasions the royal edicts were drawn up and sealed. The amirs demanded that she be removed, and Mahd-i Ulya was strangled in the harem in July 1579 on the ground of an alleged affair with the brother of the Crimean khan , Adil Giray, who was captured during the 1578–1590 Ottoman war and held captive in the capital, Qazvin. None of
13965-469: The words of Arabic origin. The conservation of archaic phonological features of the Arabic borrowings furthermore suggests that Arabic-incorporated Persian was absorbed into pre-Ottoman Turkic at an early stage, when the speakers were still located to the north-east of Persia , prior to the westward migration of the Islamic Turkic tribes. An additional argument for this is that Ottoman Turkish shares
14098-535: Was mamalik-i Iran ("Kingdom of Iran"), and it also had other variants, such as mamalik-i mahrusa-yi khusravani ("the Royal Guarded Domains") and mamalik-i mahrusa-yi humayun ("the Imperial Guarded Domains"). Simply Iran was also used. The phrase mulk-i vasi' al-faza-yi Iran ("the expansive realm of Iran") is used in both the 17th-century chronicle Khold-e barin and
14231-604: Was Turkish-speaking and Turkified . From their base in Ardabil , the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Buyids to establish a national state officially known as Iran. The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736 and 1750 to 1773) and, at their height, they controlled all of what
14364-649: Was a direct descendant of the Kurdish Ṣūfī Muslim mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din . As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyeh order, prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismāʻil was known as a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his faith in Shīʿa Islam , and believed himself to be of divine descent – practically worshipped by his Qizilbash followers. In 1500, Ismāʻil I invaded neighboring Shirvan to avenge
14497-408: Was an attractive feature for a ruler like Tahmāsp whose childhood and upbringing had been deeply affected by Qezelbāš tribal politics. In turn, many of these transplanted women became wives and concubines of Tahmāsp, and the Safavid harem emerged as a competitive, and sometimes lethal, arena of ethnic politics as cliques of Turkmen, Circassian, and Georgian women and courtiers vied with each other for
14630-590: Was apparently a Sunnī Muslim, the Ni'matullāhī order soon declared its adherence to Shīʿa Islam after the rise of the Safavid dynasty. Although Ismāʻil I initially gained mastery over Azerbaijan alone, the Safavids ultimately won the struggle for power over all of Iran, which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in Tabriz, Ismāʻil I claimed most of Iran as part of his territory , and within 10 years established
14763-563: Was born, Rustem Pasha was a man of very humble origins. He was forcibly recruited through the Devşirme system from Christian parents in the Balkans and brought to Constantinople as a child. There he studied in the Enderun , an institute for the education/indoctrination of talented boys. By the time they graduated, the boys were able to speak, read and write at least three languages, were able to understand
14896-524: Was buried in the Sehzade Mosque (which was dedicated to Süleyman and Hürrem's son, Şehzade Mehmed ) because his dream project, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque , had not yet been built. His tomb sits alongside that of Şehzade Mehmed. After her husband's death, Mihrimah completed his work including the construction of the eponymous Rüstem Pasha Mosque ( Turkish: Rüstem Paşa Camii) which can be found in
15029-419: Was calm domestically, with secure borders and no imminent threat from either the Uzbeks or the Ottomans. What remained unchanged, however, was the constant threat of local disaffection with the weak central authority. That condition would not change (and in fact it would worsen) until Tahmāsp's grandson, Abbas I, assumed the throne. On Tahmāsp's death support for a successor coalesced around two of his nine sons;
15162-444: Was clear that Abbas' style of leadership would be entirely different from Mohammad Khodabanda's leadership. Abbas was able to begin gradually transforming the empire from a tribal confederation to a modern imperial government by transferring provinces from mamalik (provincial) rule governed by a Qizilbash chief and the revenue of which mostly supported local Qizilbash administration and forces to khass (central) rule presided over by
15295-406: Was consumed with Div Sultān's efforts to eliminate Ustajlu from power. This court intrigue lead directly to tribal conflict. Beginning in 1526 periodic battles broke out, beginning in northwest Iran but soon involving all of Khorasan. In the absence of a charismatic, messianic rallying figure like the young Ismail, the tribal leaders reclaimed their traditional prerogative and threatened to return to
15428-621: Was defeated and his capital was captured, the Safavid empire survived. The war between the two powers continued under Ismāʻil's son, Emperor Tahmasp I , and the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent , until Shah Abbās retook the area lost to the Ottomans by 1602. The consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismāʻil: the defeat destroyed Ismāʻil's belief in his invincibility, based on his claimed divine status. His relationships with his Qizilbash followers were also fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries among
15561-399: Was disposed of, but Mahd-i ‘Ulyā proved the stronger of the two. She was by no means content to exercise a more or less indirect influence on affairs of state: instead, she openly carried out all essential functions herself, including the appointment of the chief officers of the realm. In place of the usual royal audience, these high dignitaries had to assemble each morning at the entrance to
15694-474: Was engaged in a plot against his life. An angry mob gathered and Tahmasp had Bayezid put into custody, alleging it was for his own safety. Tahmasp then handed the prince over to the Ottoman ambassador. Shortly afterwards, Bayezid was killed by agents sent by his own father. When the young Shah Tahmāsp took the throne, Iran was in a dire state. But in spite of a weak economy, a civil war and foreign wars on two fronts, Tahmāsp managed to retain his crown and maintain
15827-470: Was fair game for taking the blame. No one dared to criticise the Sultan himself. Probably realising this, Süleyman recalled Rüstem to his post two years later. Rüstem's scapegoating as the seemingly dominant figure in the 'conspiracy against Mustafa' radically changed public opinion. And so the Rüstem who had been extolled as the 'pillar of the Ottoman empire', as a brilliant economist and a sophisticated statesman
15960-417: Was forced to flee abroad to avoid execution. In 1559 Bayezid arrived in Iran where Tahmasp gave him a warm welcome. Suleiman was eager to negotiate his son's return, but Tahmasp rejected his promises and threats until, in 1561, Suleiman compromised with him. In September of that year, Tahmasp and Bayezid were enjoying a banquet at Tabriz when Tahmasp suddenly pretended he had received news that the Ottoman prince
16093-605: Was forced to retake it in 1558, after Humayun seized it on the death of the Safavid governor. Humayun was not the only royal figure to seek refuge at Tahmasp's court. A dispute arose in the Ottoman Empire over who was to succeed the aged Suleiman the Magnificent . Suleiman's favourite wife, Hürrem Sultan , was eager for her son, Selim , to become the next sultan. But Selim was an alcoholic and Hürrem's other son, Bayezid , had shown far greater military ability. The two princes quarrelled and eventually Bayezid rebelled against his father. His letter of remorse never reached Suleiman, and he
16226-430: Was forgotten along with all his great projects and charitable foundations. Instead he became reviled as Rüstem the 'black heart, the murderer of the loved Prince Mustafa'. Rumours spread about his 'dirty' origin and about possible bribe-taking, and he was slurred as 'the louse of fortune'. Some foreign ambassadors like Ghiselin de Busbecq or Bernardo Navagero , repeated these slurs in their reports. However, Jean Chesneau,
16359-561: Was grave for the empire, with the Ottomans deep in Iranian territory in the west and north and the Uzbeks in possession of half of Khorasan in the east. The 16-year-old Abbas I was installed as nominal shah in 1588, but the real power was intended to remain in the hands of his "mentor," Murshid Quli Khan, who reorganized court offices and principal governorships among the Qizilbash and took the title of wakīl for himself. Abbas' own position seemed even more dependent on Qizilbash approval than Mohammad Khodabanda's was. The dependence of Abbas on
16492-582: Was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi . Haydar married Martha 'Alamshah Begom, Uzun Hassan's daughter, who gave birth to Ismail I , founder of the Safavid dynasty. Martha's mother Theodora—better known as Despina Khatun —was a Pontic Greek princess, the daughter of the Grand Komnenos John IV of Trebizond . She had been married to Uzun Hassan in exchange for protection of
16625-463: Was largely responsible for the inability of the Uzbeks to make territorial inroads into Khorasan. Putting aside internal dissension, the Safavid nobles responded to a threat to Herat in 1528 by riding eastward with Tahmāsp (then 17) and soundly defeating the numerically superior forces of the Uzbeks at Jām. The victory resulted at least in part from Safavid use of firearms, which they had been acquiring and drilling with since Chaldiran. Notwithstanding
16758-518: Was nominated to the vizierate in November 1544. Rüstem supported Mihrimah's charitable foundations including the Mihrimah Sultan İskele Camii ( Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Üsküdar where her brother-in-law Sinan Pasha was buried in 1553). He was also Mihrimah's ally, particularly concerning political and financial decisions. His will offers evidence of his confidence in his wife. Rüstem and Mihrimah had
16891-522: Was not a real candidate for the throne, and Mohammad's three sons, Hamza Mirza, Abbas Mirza and Abu Talib Mirza. While the murderous actions of Ismail might be explained by political prudence (Ottoman sultans occasionally purged the bloodline to prevent succession rivals ), his actions against Shi’a suggest retaliation against his father, who saw himself as a pious practitioner. Ismail sought to reintroduce Sunni orthodoxy. But even here there may have been practical political considerations; namely, "concern about
17024-678: Was one of the few state dignitaries who didn't take bribes. He was very wealthy even before his marriage to Mihrimah Sultan . In his will (a part of an endowment charter from 1561), Rüstem left a complete inventory of his property in the hope of securing his great foundation projects after his death. His testament determined exactly which part of his property belonged to the state, to his foundations, to Hurrem Sultan 's foundation and to Mihrimah's foundations, as well as what he left to his wife Mihrimah and to their daughter Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan . In an act of faith in her abilities, he nominated his wife Mihrimah Sultan as executor of his will and his daughter as
17157-652: Was politically splintered, giving rise to a number of religious movements. The demise of Tamerlane's political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shiʻi ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Among these were a number of Sufi brotherhoods, the Hurufis , Nuqtavis and Musha'sha'iyyah . Of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Isma'il I gained political prominence in 1501. There were many local states prior to
17290-412: Was surely influenced by Rüstem's character. Most historical sources describe Rüstem as a calm and reasonable man with a keen intellect, who always kept a cool head, and who was devoted to his ruler. Rüstem Pasha was a sanjak bey who was promoted to become Beylerbey of Diyarbakir . By the time he married Mihrimah Sultan , he was already a vizier. Süleyman the Magnificent appointed him grand vizier for
17423-428: Was the ward of the powerful Qizilbash amir Ali Beg Rūmlū (titled " Div Soltān Rumlu " ) who saw himself as the de facto ruler of the state. Rūmlū and Kopek Sultān Ustajlu (who had been Ismail's last wakīl ) established themselves as co-regents of the young shah. The Qizilbash, which still suffered under the legacy of the battle of Chaldiran, was engulfed in internal rivalries. The first two years of Tahmāsp's reign
17556-470: Was the chief conspirator. Pari Khān Khānum could master strong support among the Qizilbash, and her uncle, Shamkhal Sultan , was a prominent Circassian who held a high official position. Mirza Salman left the capital before Pari Khān Khānum closed the gates and was able to meet Mohammad Khodabanda and his wife in Shiraz, to whom he offered his services. He may have believed that he would rule once their enemy
17689-504: Was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet ( Ottoman Turkish : الفبا , romanized : elifbâ ), a variant of the Perso-Arabic script . The Armenian , Greek and Rashi script of Hebrew were sometimes used by Armenians, Greeks and Jews. (See Karamanli Turkish , a dialect of Ottoman written in the Greek script; Armeno-Turkish alphabet ) The actual grammar of Ottoman Turkish
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